A bipartisan group of 196 members of the House of Representatives sent a March 24 letter to appropriations leaders urging them to provide “at least $34.5 billion” for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for fiscal year (FY) 2017.

The House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee Feb. 25 held a hearing to discuss the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget request for the National Institutes of Health.

The Senate Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee March 3 held a hearing to discuss the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Democrats on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, led by Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Patty Murray (Wash.), March 3 introduced the National Biomedical Research Act (S. 2624) to increase funding for targeted biomedical research initiatives through a new, reliable funding stream supporting the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives held its first hearing March 2 on "Bioethics and Fetal Tissue." The panel was created last fall to investigate allegations of the sale of human fetal tissue for profit.

The House Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) Appropriations Subcommittee Feb. 25 held a hearing to discuss the president’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget request for the Department of Health and Human Services.

The president released his fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget Feb 9. The administration proposes $4.23 trillion in budget authority and $3.64 trillion in revenue for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. The administration projects $4.15 trillion in actual spending (outlays) in FY 2017, resulting in a deficit of $503 billion.

In general, President Obama’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 budget proposal adheres to the statutory discretionary spending caps agreed to in the Bipartisan Budget Act (BBA) of 2015 (P.L. 114-74). But a series of proposals to create new mandatory programs has Republicans ready for a fight over spending.

Testimony and Correspondence

Community letter signed by 39 higher education organizations, and coordinated by the American Council on Education, thanking House and Senate leadership for their commitment to student aid and scientific research in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018.

Letter requesting the enactment of a bicameral, bipartisan fiscal year (FY) 2018 budget agreement that raises the spending caps and enables a $36.1 billion investment in National Institutes of Health (NIH) in FY 2018, as approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee.